LRC Credit Edition Day 16: Your Credit Mix

New to the Live Richer Challenge: Credit Edition? Learn more about it HERE.

Week 3:Credit Maintenance

Day 16: Your Credit Mix

Today’s Easy Financial Task:Learn about the type of debt that makes up your credit mix and what to consider before taking on new debt.

How to rock this task:

Pull out your credit report

Review the types of debt you have

Learn how to decide when it’s the right time to open a new account

Hey, there! Welcome to Day 16 of the Challenge, Dream Catcher.

Today’s a video day! *Happy Dance*

Watch the video explaining today’s task and come back and get to work.

In today’s task, we’re talking about your credit mix. For a quick reminder, your credit mix is the different types of debt you have on your credit report.

Although credit mix makes up only 10% of your credit score, financial institutions like to see a mix of both revolving and installment accounts on your credit report because it shows you have a history of managing various forms of debt.

Examples of revolving accounts are credit cards, retail accounts, and any other account where you’re only required to pay a minimum amount each month and you can revolve the remaining balance to the next billing cycle.

Examples of installment loans are auto loans, personal loans, and mortgages. These are loans with a preset loan term that you make scheduled payments on each month.

If your credit report lacks one type of debt (revolving accounts or installment loans), you may be wondering if you should open another account to improve your credit mix.

Although diversity is good, it’s important to understand:

You shouldn’t open an account just for the sake of opening an account.

Instead, diversify your accounts over time and only as necessary. Before opening a new account, ask yourself a few key questions:

Do I need it?

Only open accounts that:

Serve a purpose

You’re committed to managing responsibly

You can afford

If you’re building credit from scratch, before opening a line of credit make sure that you trust yourself to spend within your means and that you can keep up with payments. Otherwise, opening an account before you’re ready can do more harm than good.

One company I highly recommend (again), is Self Lender. You can read my full review and learn more about how they work, here.

Also, remember the “Jump like Jordan” tactic of putting a small balance on a credit card and paying it off entirely each month (from the Day 12 task) can increase your score as much as 100 points in a year too.

However, this will only work if you have enough discipline to keep the credit card balance low so you can pay it back in full each billing cycle.

What will a new account do to my credit history length?

Remember, your credit history length is an average, so opening new accounts will shorten your credit history length overall.

Tip: When you do open a new account, don’t close any of your old revolving accounts even if they have negative records like late payments. The late payments will stay on your history and impact your score whether the account is open or closed, but the account age can still do positive things for your credit history length.

Have I done my homework on the account that I’m considering?

Choose your accounts carefully. Even though some retail credit cards and store financing options are easy to qualify for, they can also have a higher interest rate than a major credit card. I suggest staying far away from retail/store cards.

Before opening an account confirm:

The interest rate and compare it to other credit cards, loans, or financing offers

The fees and compare it to other credit cards, loans, or financing offers

What credit bureaus the credit card or loan issuer reports to

That there is no additional fine print to the credit card or financing contract you need to be aware of

Take a moment to review your current credit mix.

What accounts do you currently have?

What accounts do you plan on adding in the future that will diversify your mix?

To make your life easier, Credit Sesamehas a section of your online credit report where you can review your credit mix. When you sign-up, Credit Sesame will extend to you, up to $50,000 worth of identity theft Insurance, for free. Yup! Sign-up HERE.

Remember, if you need help during today’s task, reach out to your accountability partner(s) or comment in the section below.

*** Need Help? Feeling Overwhelmed? Want to work with someone one-on-one to improve your credit? Netiva “The Frugal CrediTnista” is offering her renowned, full credit improvement services & consultations at a special discounted price just for Dream Catchers! Learn more and get the help you need. Start with Netiva’s FREE consultation, HERE. ***

Want to work through the Live Richer Challenge: Credit Edition in a workbook? It’s part of a bestselling series and has already hit #1 on Amazon! Get your copy below.

–

My Lisa Rule: I have 4 sisters and Lisa is the baby (well she’s not a baby anymore). Of all of my sisters, I’m the most protective over her. Before I share any product or service with you, it must pass my Lisa Rule.

What’s the Lisa Rule? If I would not advise Lisa to use a product or service, I won’t advise you to either. YOU are my Lisas. I feel protective over you and your financial journey.

The products and services I recommend pass my Lisa Rule. Yes, I may be an affiliate and earn a commission off of referrals, but I would not recommend a product or service that I didn’t believe was helpful and useful.

Share this:

If this article helped you, it will probably help another sis-star you know. Share it!

neceyluv

I would LOVE to apply for a revolving account (#hellotargetexpresstjmaxx), but I’m in a rebuilding mode right now. I have two secured cards which I pay off monthly, and have paid off all collections from my credit reports except medical bills, which I plan to negotiate down. I also just got a new car in September, so my score has been steadily increasing! Thank God for new beginnings! I’m planning to move this spring and need for my credit report and score to be as good as I can get it. Perhaps later in the year though. Good information!

cunningham34

Dream Catchers who are obsessed with the shopping card trick and getting approved for lines of credit just because need to read today’s lesson.

Mz Red

I had a real addiction to getting approved for cards. I’m 19 days clean right now and got myself in a world of trouble. I filled out cards all the way till the 31st of December. So now I’m trying to figure out how to pay off all these cards and trying to get started with the “snowball effect”. I know I messed up big time and its going to take me some time to clear all this and have my score just right and no inquiries when I go get another vehicle in 2020.